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These are about 5MB each and will be up on my web server for only a limited time, as they take up a fair chunk of my space allotment.

The legato violin line starting around 2:15 was very difficult to render realistically, and even after days/weeks of tweaking it’s still not perfect (I still need to adjust the overlaps between some of the legato notes, especially in the SISS version.)

In addition to the strings, I used the following libraries:
PMI Boesendorfer piano dry
Westgate woodwinds
Sonic Implants brass cheap soundfonts (French horn)
the free SAM trumpets that used to be downloadable on their web site
the harp patch from the Alesis classical Q-card (I know there are better harps available!)

When I get around to it, I’ll probably record some of my own cello to double some of the string lines. This would add a huge element of realism.

Hope this is interesting. After you’ve had a chance to listen, I’ll write something about my impressions of the two string libraries.

Re: New piece, GOS Lite vs. SISS Mini

Alan,

Here\'s why I made the comparison: I\'d been using GOS for a while, but wasn\'t entirely satisfied with it. I liked the demos of SISS, because I thought they had an expressiveness that GOS lacks. I bought SISS Mini to try it out, to see if SISS would be useful by itself, or by blending the two libraries I could achieve an extra bit of realism. Also, I was having a very difficult time making realistic legato lines in GOS Lite, because the attacks on different notes seem to vary in speed, and also the note overlaps have to be adjusted on each individual note. I hoped (for no good reason) it might be easier with SISS.

After playing with them a bit, it\'s clear that the two libraries are not interchangeable. GOS uses more instruments per section, so it has a bigger sound. SISS has a clearer and more intimate sound, and seems to feature a couple of dominant instruments, at least in the violin sections. There\'s a more tender vibrato with the SISS on the violins. However, on the SISS cellos, there\'s almost no vibrato--it\'s as if you were listening to a gamba section in one of those \"more authentic than thou\" early music ensembles.

On slow passages, the SISS sound is very beautiful, I think. On the other hand, the vibrato in the violins made it very difficult to render some moderate-tempo legato lines, and they sounded \"synthy\". Blending with GOS works better on those lines.

Often the pizzicato in GOS sounds murky. It\'s much clearer in SISS (but the intonation is flat on some high violin notes, I find.)

My final conclusion is that I\'m not satisfied with either of these libraries, but blending them together can be beneficial. I think if I had to choose one, however, it would be GOS Lite. It\'s cheaper and for some things sounds better than SISS Mini, IMO.

Re: New piece, GOS Lite vs. SISS Mini

Dr. Grace

The composition is very beautiful. Very very beautiful. But somewhere in your graduate courses, didn\'t they teach you that coming into a forum and making comparisons with the competitors\' products, then concluding by saying that you are not satisfied with the forum\'s product, is terrible conduct?

If not, then this will be Forum Etiquette 101. Don\'t do that, because people don\'t like that kind of stuff, and if you want to compare libraries there are other forums in which to do so - one at this very site, in fact.

Re: New piece, GOS Lite vs. SISS Mini

[ QUOTE ]
Dr. Grace

The composition is very beautiful. Very very beautiful. But somewhere in your graduate courses, didn\'t they teach you that coming into a forum and making comparisons with the competitors\' products, then concluding by saying that you are not satisfied with the forum\'s product, is terrible conduct?

If not, then this will be Forum Etiquette 101. Don\'t do that, because people don\'t like that kind of stuff, and if you want to compare libraries there are other forums in which to do so - one at this very site, in fact.

- Professor Junk

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks, Prof. Sorry, I didn\'t know that I had breached a point of etiquette. And I\'m not saying that GOS is bad, only that it\'s not perfect, and that I\'m not entirely satisfied with it--but probably I wouldn\'t be satisfied with any string library, if the goal is realism. I don\'t have the money for VSL, but I suspect it also isn\'t perfect.

If you look again at my post, you\'ll see that I ended up recommending GOS Lite, just as I\'ve recommended it on other forums to people looking for an inexpensive string library. I think it\'s a great value. However, I also believe that most people want to hear honest reports, including the potential drawbacks. I know I do. If I wanted only the positive, I\'d be content with reading the vendors\' advertisements.

Re: New piece, GOS Lite vs. SISS Mini

I would hope that forum members here are more mature in their attitude than what Junkmonkey suggests.

I don\'t think Gary is made of glass and can\'t stand constructive criticism of his libraries. I would hope forum members aren\'t either. Let\'s not become like a certain \'other forum\' here at NS. There are so many like that!

I believe DrGrace\'s comparisons and comments to be perfectly in line with the spirit of things here.

He\'s not reduced himself to scathing remarks and iterations of the scatalogical vocabulary like a bunch of forums on the web do regularily.

I don\'t agree with all he said, but I\'m glad he said it anyway!

P.S. : I don\'t believe Gary wants a \'cult following\' after his products as this just turns prospective buyers away from forums like that. We don\'t want this to be reduced to mere \'evangelizing\'!

Re: New piece, GOS Lite vs. SISS Mini

What struck me the most about this work was the balance you achieved with the strings in every rendering of this piece. I would say this is one of the best and most well balanced in terms of dynamics and voicing of the strings.
I will say I did prefer the GPO to the rest and to be fare, I listened to the SISS first and the Blend last. Still, aside from it, I list this as a favorite in my ever-growing list of GPO compositions.
I still don\'t know how you do it. Every time I get something in my head I loose it almost as fast as I hear it. Oh well, I am just happy to be able to listen to such wonderful new music
Five****\'s
I wanna hear more!